World Cup in-brief

Diego Maradona was not in Berlin's Olympiastadion to see Argentina's World Cup quarter-final defeat to Germany on Friday because a member of his entourage was refused entry, Fifa said yesterday.

The game's governing body said the iconic former captain had been given four VIP tickets for the match, which Argentina lost on penalties, but wanted to bring in a fifth person who Fifa had declared was not welcome.

'It has been reported that Diego Maradona arrived at the stadium and then left again because not all of his entourage was allowed in,' Fifa spokesman Markus Siegler said. 'This was the decision of Diego Maradona alone.'

He said Fifa had been in touch with Maradona and the Spanish television station he is working for before the game. 'Maradona's delegation was told in advance that one particular person would not get a ticket because this person has been rude repeatedly during the World Cup and even became almost physically aggressive,' he said. 'We're sorry if Diego Maradona didn't want to accept that. He, and a certain number of companions, are welcome at any time.'

Siegler declined to identify the person Fifa had excluded. 'We've always had tickets for Diego Maradona, even if it was difficult sometimes because he just turned up. We always found a solution for him.'

'The problem yesterday was that one person was not on the list of names but wanted to come in.'

Ticket distribution

Fifa to bring ticketing back in-house

Fifa will retake control of World Cup ticketing for the 2010 tournament in South Africa after the organisation's president Sepp Blatter accepted it had been an 'ongoing problem' at this year's finals.

Supporters have criticised the number of tickets distributed for corporate use and to sponsors, with many filtering through to the black market, and touts charging three and four-figure sums for tickets to some games.

Blatter said it was 'too late' to make changes for this tournament but insisted the ticketing arrangements for 2010 would be taken back in-house. 'This ticketing problem is an ongoing problem. But if you look at the stadiums, in the first two matches [that Blatter attended] the stadium was 80 per cent of England fans, so somehow they got the tickets,' the Fifa president said.

'I have already said this is not the system

we would have for 2010. This was a system which was brought up by the German organising committee, it is now too late to change it, but I have already said from the very beginning that Fifa will handle the ticketing itself for the 2010 World Cup to avoid all the criticism we have received here.'

Play-acting has also plagued the competition, but responding to calls for retrospective punishments for divers Blatter claimed that Fifa's disciplinary committee was already ready to look into any 'special' examples of simulation. 'We don't want to lose fans, but it's very difficult,' he said. 'Here I would protect referees, when it comes to their opinion whether it is diving or not diving, and the referee has to take this decision immediately. Therefore he does not have television replays at his disposal, as do all the fans.

'It [retrospective punishment] is the prerogative of the disciplinary committee of Fifa, they have the right to do so. They monitor all the matches when they have their daily meeting and if there is something very special they can intervene.

Asked whether he had increased the pressure on referees with his critical comments about the standard of officiating, Blatter responded: 'I am not a critic of the referees. I only want to help and to have the best possible match officials. We have invested so much manpower and money to have the referees well prepared and if the referees are not good we cannot say to the world, "The referees are perfect."'

Blatter also said he would have been happy for English official Graham Poll, who has retired from international refereeing, to continue at the highest level of the game despite his error in the Croatia v Australia game, when he showed Josip Simunic three yellow cards before he was sent off.

'I have spoken personally with Poll, I told him that I consider him still as one of the best referees in the world,' Blatter said.

Ghana

Essien urges Adu to switch from the US

Michael Essien has urged Freddy Adu to turn down Manchester United and the US to join him at Chelsea and with Ghana.

Ghana midfielder Essien called on Adu - the world's most in-demand teenager - to make a double-switch on the back of Ghana's impressive World Cup campaign.

DC United prodigy Adu, 17, has been the subject of the competing attentions of rival managers Jose Mourinho of Chelsea and United's Sir Alex Ferguson. The midfielder is considering whether to switch nationality from the US back to his native Ghana after the Black Stars reached the last 16 in Germany.

'Freddy is a really good young player and I hope he joins me at Chelsea,' Essien said. 'It's now up to him to decide which country he wants to play for and he would be more than welcome in our team.'

Dennis Tawiah, the Ghanaian FA's UK organiser, said: 'Adu turned down the chance to come back before the tournament, but the FA are thinking about asking again ahead of the African Nations Cup in Ghana in 2008.'